Characterization of novel genic SSR markers in Linum usitatissimum (L.) and their transferability across eleven Linum species

Braulio J. Soto-Cerda*^#1 · Hector Urbina Saavedra¹ · Cristell Navarro Navarro¹ · Paula Mora Ortega¹

¹Centro de Genómica Nutricional Agro-Acuícola, Unidad de Genómica y Bioinformática, INIA-Carillanca, Temuco, Chile

*Corresponding author: braulio.soto@cgna.cl

^#Present address: Cereal Research Center, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Winnipeg, Canada.

Financial support: This work was supported by CGNA, Centro de Genómica Nutricional Agro-Acuícola, Araucanía-Chile.

Keywords: EST-SSRs, expressed sequence tag, flaxseed, polymorphic loci, wild relatives.

Little is known about the evolutionary relationships among Linum species, basically because of the lack of transferable molecular markers. Currently, expressed sequence tags available in public databases provide an opportunity for the rapid and inexpensive development of simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers in wild flax species. In this regard, fifty expressed sequence tag-derived microsatellite markers (EST-SSRs) were evaluated for polymorphism and transferability in 50 Linum usitatissimum cultivars/accessions and 11 Linum species. Among them 23 EST-SSRs were polymorphic in L. usitatissimum, while 2-4 alleles were detected (average 2.26 per locus). The polymorphism information content value ranged from 0.08 to 0.55 (average 0.38). Forty one genic markers (95.3%) produced strong amplicons in at least two of the 11 Linum species. The percentage of cross amplification ranged from 34.1% to 92.7% in L. tauricum and L. bienne, respectively. Moreover, the rate of transferability was associated positively with the botanical section. Our results suggest that the high degree of EST-SSRs transferability to Linum species can be a useful enhancement of the current database of SSR markers for future genetic and evolutionary studies.